No Little Feat: Lafayette seniors shine in district championship win against Savannah

May 21—LATHROP, Mo. — When Lafayette head coach Matt Jansen needed Jayden Little to step up big, the Irish senior did just that.

Little opened Thursday's Class 4 District 16 Championship with three scoreless frames on the mound and got the bats going with a two-RBI double to propel the Irish to a 7-0 title-clinching win against Savannah.

"I'm proud of all the hard work we've done throughout the years," Jansen said. "Now it's their time to shine. We're not done here. We're not settling. I'm excited we have these memories, and no one can take that from us."

The game was scheduled for 5 p.m. at Missouri Western but was moved early Thursday morning to a noon first pitch at Lathrop High School to avoid any potential weather delays.

That didn't stop the district's top seed from sticking to their plan. Jansen planned to shut down the offense of second-seeded Savannah (16-10) with Little's right arm and finish it off with lefty Brayden Luikart.

"Our strength is our starting pitching," Jansen said. "Whoever we play, we're always gonna have one of our studs up there on the mound."

Savannah loaded the bases in the first before an inning-ending strikeout by Little. Two more found the basepaths in the second before a similar ending.

Little worked around a two-out single in the third before being pulled after a leadoff double by Ashton Kincaid in the fourth. He allowed five hits against five strikeouts in three scoreless innings.

Opposite Little, Savannah righthander Aiden Leonard was perfect through three innings as any contact from an Irish batter found a Savage glove. But the offense's inability to strike early would pay.

"We had guys on base, and we've gotta score," Savannah head coach Erich Bodenhausen said. "We'd get guys on base but couldn't get a big hit. It kinda spirals out of control there, and that's what happens with young teams."

Luikart relieved Little in the top of the fourth, striking out three-straight batters to strand Kincaid.

The Lafayette (17-7) bats then took advantage of Savannah mistakes. Dayne Koch was hit by a Leonard pitch before a bunt by Sam Ryan forced Leonard to misfire the throw to first, bringing up Luikart. The Savages opted to intentionally walk the Oklahoma signee and pitch to Little, who hit a grand slam in the same situation earlier this season.

"I think he's the hottest hitter on the planet right now," Luikart said. "I don't think it's smart to walk me to get to him, but it's baseball and things happen. Whatever helps the team, I'm for. I have uber confidence Jayden will get the job done."

Facing a full count, Little, who mentioned feeling doubted by opponents when the situation arose earlier this year, sliced a shot down the line in right to bring in two runs to open the scoring.

"I was just trying to drive the ball and scrape one across there. Scraping one across there was huge," Little said. "Once I got to two strikes, it was more about the team there and trying to put a ball in play."

Reacting to intentionally walking Luikart, Jansen said, "Don't do it. ... Jayden has risen to the occasion all year."

The next three Irish batters walked to advance the score to 4-0 and chase Leonard from the game. He allowed just one hit in three innings but was hurt by four walks and the error.

A passed ball on a pitch from reliever Gabe Piper allowed Kobe Jones to make it 5-0 after four innings.

The rest of the game was slight work for the Irish. Luikart struck out five of the next six batters before an RBI double by Jone and an RBi groundout by Cade King in the sixth, making the score 7-0.

Luikart strukout out leadoff hitter Truman Bodenhausen to end the game and send the team into a frenzied celebration.

Luikart was perfect in four scoreless innings, striking out 10 of the 12 batters he faced. Now he prepares for a similar role when Lafayette heads to Chillicothe to face their MEC rival in the Class 4 sectional round Tuesday.

"Our motto is, 'Win our last game.' If we keep winning our last game, you know what happens. Our energy is our biggest factor. If we have our energy, we're a hard team to beat."

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